The Oath
Directed by Ike Barinholtz
Produced by Ike Barinholtz, Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick, Andrew C. Robinson, David Stassen
Written by Ike Barinholtz
Starring Ike Barinholtz, Tiffany Haddish, Nora Dunn, Chris Ellis, Jon Barinholtz, Meredith Hagner, Carrie Brownstein, Billy Magnussen, John Cho
There’s two reasons a satirical movie might fail to gain popular approval. The first, and alas, more common, is that it’s just stupid, and/or misses the mark. We’ve all seen and largely forgotten movies like that.
The second, and rarer one is that it is brilliant, with a keenly honed edge, and makes the viewers uncomfortable. It’s the sort of movie where you shift uneasily in your seat and wonder, “Do -I- do that?” If the answer is “yes” then as satire, the movie has succeeded.
If a movie makes you wince several times in self-recognition and you’re still enjoying the hell out of it, then you’re probably watching Ike Barinholz’ 2018 effort, The Oath.
The premise is that it’s Thanksgiving, sometime in the immediate future. The unnamed President of the United States has passed a law that all citizens must sign a loyalty oath, not just to the country but to him, personally. (Despite current events, the movie cleverly avoids pointing to any particular individual who might be said president, other than to say his home is in South Carolina). A upper middle class family is gathering for Thanksgiving in these pre-pandemic days. Most of the members have already signed the oath, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The husband (Barinholtz) and his wife (Haddish) are the holdouts.
With national tensions already sky high, the family resolutely try to avoid discussing politics in general, and the Oath in particular. They are successful, and nothing much happens during the rest of the movie, other than a mild dispute over what vegetables are best served with the stuffing.
Well, OK, maybe it doesn’t quite go that way. The newscasts, and the incident of a fight among unrelated parties at a restaurant start tensions rising amongst the group.
Then two strangers in police gear show up, investigating reports that there were some holdouts on signing the oath, and things ratchet up to critical levels of tension, reflecting what is happening in the country as a whole. John Cho is the pleasant and reasonable one, and Billy Magnussen is the self-righteous wanna-be one. Things escalate.
Barinholtz, who wrote, directed, produced and starred in The Oath, has done an outstanding job, and if there is one thing working against him, it lies in how terrifyingly close to the events in this movie the country has come. You’ll feel fear watching The Oath, and that fear is real, and justified.
It’s a very important movie, one that you must watch. And yes, it’s also entertaining as all hell.
Now on Hulu.